As far as I’m concerned, ice cream is the perfect dessert. There’s nothing more relaxing and comforting after a hectic day with kids and work than a little hillock of lush and frosty ice cream sitting in a bowl. But lately my cholesterol has been creeping a little higher, making my nightly indulgence unsustainable. So after some months eating mostly store-bought sherbet and frozen yogurt, I decided to try something new — almond milk ice cream — and I’m so glad I did.

Now no one would ever proclaim me a vegan — after all, I have far too many recipes on Bay Area Bites that use pork shoulder as a main ingredient — but I do love the idea of cutting cholesterol and fat from my diet. So, noticing refrigerated almond milk at Trader Joe’s, I started to wonder how it would fare as an ice-cream base. The container claimed it was “rich and creamy” and I also saw it was free of cholesterol and saturated fat. So far so good, but would it taste like ice cream? As someone who’s never really liked soy ice cream — it has too much of an aftertaste for me — I was skeptical but ready to give almond milk a try.

I made three types of ice cream and, no surprise to many vegans out there but sort of a surprise to me, they were all amazingly good, exceeding my expectations on every level. My ten-year old daughter Maddie even exclaimed about the chocolate version “This is better than store-bought ice cream! It’s my favorite!” I have to agree. My three flavors were almond, strawberry and chocolate (recipes below). All are vegan. The first two were delightful but the chocolate was really special, and all are cholesterol and fat free. But don’t make these because they’re healthy for you; make them because they are creamy and luscious. Basically they are everything that ice cream should be, minus the artery clogging component.

Recipe: Rich Chocolate and Banana Almond Milk Ice Cream

Summary:Not to toot my own horn, but this ice cream rocks. I know I’m not supposed to say that. It’s unbecoming to boast that something you made is fantastic. But this ice cream inspired two pitilessly honest ten-year old girls to run around the kitchen yelling “It’s so good!” over and over. So I am breaking protocol and telling you that regardless of your thoughts about vegan recipes or almond milk, anyone who likes chocolate ice cream should make this. Really.

By Denise Santoro Lincoln

Prep time:5 minCook time:20 minTotal time:25 minYield:4 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups almond milk

2 ripe bananas

2 heaping tablespoons chocolate cocoa

2 Tbsp sugar

Instructions

In a microwaveable bowl or cup whisk 1/2 cup almond milk with the chocolate cocoa and sugar until fully incorporated. Microwave for 40 seconds and then stir.

Place bananas plus the remainder of the almond milk into a blender along with the cocoa mixture and puree for about 10 seconds.

Place mixture in the ice cream maker and process for 20 minutes or until thick.

Serve right away or store in the freezer for later use or to firm up a bit more if desired.

Recipe: Triple Almond Vegan Ice Cream

Summary:This one is a true winner. With almond milk, almond butter and chopped almonds, it has a burst of — yes, you guessed it — almond flavor. But unlike other almond ice creams, it tastes like real nuts and not some extract or artificial flavor that was added. This is the real almond deal. I’m actually hesitant to tell you that it is also sugar free, because hearing that ice cream is vegan, gluten-free and sugar free makes it sound like it will taste like paste, but with a banana and almond milk mixed in it had a natural sweetness that was perfect. Plus with all this talk lately that sugar is toxic it might make the recipe actually sound more alluring to some.

Prep time:5 min Cook time:20 minTotal time:25 minYield:4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk

1 ripe banana

3 Tbsp almond butter

1/4 tsp almond liqueur (optional)

1/4 cup chopped blanched almonds

Instructions

Place all ingredients except chopped almonds in the blender and puree for 10-15 seconds or until the mixture looks like a smoothie.

Place mixture plus almonds in the ice cream maker and process for 20 minutes or until thick.

Store ice cream in a container and freeze for another 20 seconds to firm up a bit before serving

Recipe: Strawberry Almond Milk Ice Cream

Summary:My next foray into almond milk ice cream included lots of strawberries. With a velvety and smooth texture more reminiscent of sorbet than ice cream, this creation was full of a bright fruitiness as well as a hint of almond flavor. Once again using my kids as guinea pigs, I gave them each a big a helping and it was declared “really good” and both had seconds.

Prep time:15 min Cook time:20 minTotal time:35 minYield:4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups frozen strawberries

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp orange juice or water

1 1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp corn starch

Instructions

Heat 1 1/2 cups strawberries in a small pot with the sugar and water or juice. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool and then puree in a blender. You can cool the strawberries in a bowl set on top of another bowl of ice water to speed things up.

Mix 1/2 cup almond milk with the corn starch and set aside.

Heat the remainder of the almond milk plus the vanilla in a medium pot until simmering and then add in the corn starch infused almond milk. Stir on low heat while whisking for five minutes to thicken.

Strain almond milk to remove lumps and then let mixture cool to room temperature. Mix into pureed strawberries and then set in the refrigerator until cold (about a half hour).

Chop up the last 1/2 cup of strawberries and then add to the almond milk mixture. Place in your prepared ice-cream maker and let it run for 20 minutes. Place ice cream in a container until ready for use.

I’m an omnivorous dessert lover who made the switch to almond milk recently and these recipes look fantastic! Did you use sweetened or unsweetened almond milk?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Amelia Badelia (btw: I adore those books)– I used a refrigerated almond milk from Trader Joe’s that was “original” flavor and was also sweetened. I didn’t see any refrigerated almond milk that wasn’t sweetened but I’d like to find a brand and use honey in it next time.

you just made my decision to go back to be a vegan soo much easier….thank u!!!!!

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Glad I could help, Bessie!

John

Just a general FYI on making ice cream, you will get a smoother texture if you chill the mix in the fridge to under 40 before churning.

Marya

These recipes look awesome; just another bonus of being vegan! Thanks so much for posting! Also, FYI, Silk has unsweetened almond milk (not to be confused with the “Original” flavor); I use it every day!

Beth

Whole Foods’ house brand, 365, has an organic unsweetened almond milk that is delicious and naturally tasty. It’s far less expensive than any other non-dairy milk on the market. Can’t wait to try these recipes with it. Thanks for sharing!

Do you have any suggestions on a good ice cream maker? What the best value for price? I have never made homemade ice cream before. I’m newly vegan and need the cold stuf, but store bought ice cream has too much sugar. I just don’t want to pay too much money, but I want one that works properly. Thanks!

These look absolutely delicious! One thing, though, none of them are “fat free” as you claim. Plenty of natural, plant-based fat in both almond butter and almond milk. No cholesterol, since they’re vegan, but they do all contain fat.

Pam

Hi – these look fantastic! I went searching for almond milk ice cream because I’ve been making my own almond milk to cut down on some of my dairy consumption (cholesterol) and happen to LOVE ice cream. With the start of summer… I’ll definitely be trying each recipe! Question… was the chocolate cocoa the unsweetened kind, used for baking? Thanks!

sherice potter

Could you just use choc almond milk? These sound delicious!! I’m going to try!

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Pam — Yes the cocoa is unsweetened baking cocoa. Thanks for writing and I hope you like the recipes

Pam

Thanks Denise! I’m off to get some ripe bananas now. Homemade almond milk is icy cold waiting in the fridge.

Pam

Enjoyed my first scoop… sooooo good! Perhaps some bits of chopped brownies or cherries or coconut flakes would all work well with the chocolate recipe.

Bekah

Loved it!!! Was recently told by my dr to stay away from all dairy and all soy so I thought my ice cream days were over :o( Tried the chocolate tonight and was sooo happy!!! Can’t wait to try out the other flavors.

Harris

I was searching the web for a recipe that uses Almond Milk to make sorbet, and discovered your posting. Being a first time user of an ice cream machine and also lactose free I’m interested in searching for recipes that I could enjoy.
The next one that I will try is your strawberry.
I think that using peaches in there place might work. Letme know if you have tried them.

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Harris — I’ve never used peaches but don’t see why they wouldn’t work in the recipe. If you’re using fresh fruit, however, I would omit the juice/water as they will be juicy on their own. Let me know how it turns out!

jamie brewer

thank you so much for all your help… anxious to give it a try.. bought everything yesterday.. life is good

starlogva

I made the chocolate today and, I’m sad to say, I didn’t care for it at all. I like banana a lot, but I found it overwhelmed the chocolate.

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Starlogva – thanks for sharing your thoughts on the recipe. I really appreciate your comments and am sorry this one didn’t work out for you.

marisa

Hi,

I really want to try these recipes, but I don’t have an ice cream maker. Is there a way to make these without one? Thanks!

I like your idea for using almond milk for ice cream. I’m going to have to give that a try – but your logic for doing so is flawed. Saturated fat is actually heart-protective. Your recipes are pretty much fat free and loaded with sugar, so you’re causing large spikes in your blood glucose with no fat to lessen the insulin spike. Your recipes may not have cholesterol in them, but dietary cholesterol has no impact on your heart health. A diet low in saturated fat drops your HDL’s and a diet high in sugar shoots your triglycerides through your roof, and your low fat/high carb ice creams are a recipe for this. It’s the HDL/Triglyceride ratio that’s important, not the total cholesterol. High LDL with a low trig is harmless LDL. You should read this to learn how to interpret a cholesterol test as most doctors can’t even read them right:

That being said, I eat homemade sugar free ice cream 4 nights a week made out of pure heavy whipping cream (cream only, no additives, pasteurized, NOT ultra-pasteurized), coconut milk, stevia and real extracts, and it’s done great at helping me cut down from 15% to sub-12% body fat. Now that I’m getting very lean, I need to start reducing dietary fat. Switching the heavy cream for almond milk could allow me to still eat ice cream Monday thru Thursday nights and help me cut a little more fat off my waist. This is a great idea if you skip the sugar and use stevia instead, and maybe some coconut milk for MCT’s.

Mindy

Do the bananas act as a thickener for the chocolate ice cream, or can the be omitted?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Mindy — Yes, the bananas do add body, but if you don’t want to add them you can simply use cornstarch (take a look at the recipe for Strawberry Almond Milk Ice Cream to see how this is done). Good luck!

Mindy

Awesome! Thank you!

Elynn Eiss

Hi, other than bananas and cornstarch, Denise, can you recommend a thickener? Could I use some powdered pudding mix? Itching to try this recipe, but not to gas up and head to the store. Thx

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Elynn — I’ve never tried anything other than bananas and cornstarch so can’t really say, although I would think pudding mix would work fine. It’s definitely worth a try. Let me know how it turns out

wholistic

Love this! I personally use Almondie’s almond butter. It’s 100% raw and pure, it’s sugar-free and preservative-free! It’s perfect for those who are allergic to milk and soy and lactose intolerant. I’m sure it’ll be perfect for this recipe!! Thanks for sharing!

Eva

What kind of chocolate cocoa r u asking 4? Like the stuff u use 2 make chocolate milk or cocoa for baking? Plus do you think this will work if I just used the chocolate almond milk and bananas?

kristin

i made the chocolate one tonight – so good! i used whole foods refrigerated unsweetened almond milk, some stevia for part of the sugar, and added almond extract for that “devil’s food” taste. i couldn’t have been more pleased! the only problem i have was that i kept dipping my spoon in the ice cream maker before it was done. Thanks for a guilt free yummy dessert!

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Kristin — I’m so glad you enjoyed the ice cream! My kids and I adore this recipe. And you’re not alone… we also have a hard time keeping our spoons out of the ice cream maker

Annie

looking for some healthful, vegan and sugar free recipes. These sound terrific! Can’t wait to give them a try.

Bryson

Question can i use soy or rice milk?

Bethsdyson

Hi Denise, Harry and I just made the Triple Almond Vegan Ice Cream for Mrs. Sue and the girls. We all loved it! Thanks for the recipes! Beth

I don’t have an ice cream maker. Do you think the bag technique would work with the chocolate recipe?

Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Bryson – I’ve never used soy or rice milk but if you are allergic to almonds or just don’t want to use almond milk, I would try rice milk first as it has a natural sweetness like almond milk.
Hi Beth – so glad you all liked it!
Hi Jennifer – I’ve never used the bag technique so am not sure. I think following directions for making ice cream without an ice cream maker should work, however. Good luck!

Betweenthepages

These are AMAZING. I’ve made the chocolate and strawberry–chocolate was awesome and the strawberry was so mindblowing that I bought a bigger ice cream maker just to make more servings at a time!!! THANK YOU. Please keep posting recipes like these. They’re keepers.

Gypsyatheartjewels

hi, love this recipe , but I do not use a microwave, what would you suggest I do instead, and what does the microwaving do to the mixture???

Jen

These recipes look AMAZING! I can’t wait to try them! I do not use refined sugar, though. Do you think it would be alright to sub agave in the recipes? Do you think it would change the consistency drastically?

Kylie

We tried the chocolate last night. So awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Carol

Funny error: “Store ice cream in a container and freeze for another 20 seconds to firm up a bit before serving” should have said “minutes.”
Champing at the bit to make these! Thanks for so sweetly sharing, and especially for one recipe sans sugar, the true test!

Lindacy316

I would love to try these recipes, but I do not have an ice cream maker. Is there a way that I can achieve ice-cream-like results without an actual maker?

Thanks!

Pneiman33

This will take more lead time but, you could make up the liquid form of the “ice cream” (with 1/2c less almond milk) and freeze it in ice cube trays. The day you want to turn it into ice cream, put your cubes in a good blender BlendTec or VitaMix, with the 1/2c almond milk you held back, and blend away.

Sb

Get a really large metal bowl, put in ice cubes and ice cream salt, get a medium metal bowl and put the icecream stuff in. Place theand medium bowlmetal inside thelooking large bowl, Continue stirring the mix with a spatula while turning the inside bowl.

ICECREAM!!

IlissaD

I would love to try the strawberry ice cream since I just went strawberry picking. Since I have fresh and not frozen berries, should I still cook them with the sugar or can I just puree or mash the berries with the sugar and juice and skip the heating step altogether?

Searchrx

I just made the chocolate ice cream. It was so good!! I was buying the almond milk ice cream at a health food store for $6 a pint. Now I can make it for pennies. Thank you so much for the recipe.

http://cakegirllosangeles.blogspot.com/ cake girl

This looks amazing and super simple to make

thanks!

Cfrazier77

Thanks for the recipes….looking for something my son can have and not feel left out due to his dairy allergy. These look like just the thing!

Tlmayer

a print page for each recipe on its own would be nice. 11 pages of sidebars is a bit rediculous. Thanks

Mandy

What ice cream maker do you use? The recipes look amazing!!!

aleelg

These are wonderful!

Keely G

Made the strawberry tonight and it’s still cooling/setting in the freezer. Had to adjust for waiting on the almond milk/cornstarch to thicken and had to add a bit more cornstarch, but it did definitely thicken up when it cooled to room temp. As with all my ice cream recipes, cooling the batch for an extended period before putting it in the ice cream maker makes all the difference. The stuff stuck to the side of the machine we scraped out but that didn’t make it into the freezer container tasted great! i can’t wait to try the chocolate or the almond. We also have peaches in the freezer to try instead of strawberry next time.

Boo

Thank you for recipe wee like it a lot

Janet Stinson

Did you use Original Unsweetened Almond Milk?

Suntanfan

Banana chocolate ice cream is AWESOME! Was looking for a way to save some $$$ on frozen desserts for my kids who are allergic to milk, among many other things. Thank you soooooo much;)

Strings739

I tried the chocolate banana one. Followed the recipe exactly, but it turned out very hard and not creamy enough for my liking. I understand almond milk has a lot less fat than cream, so I should have expected this, but what I made is more reminiscent of a low fat chocolate ice pop than creamy ice cream. Any tips to make it more like traditional ice cream without the dairy?

Birdsnbloomer

Do these taste as good if you use plain silk milk? My daughter is allergic to Almonds.

guest

I used your ingredients, but with frozen bananas, and simply blended in the blender. Fantastic!

CC Mullins

Thanks for the recipies. Was wondering if you could have a print recipie option to save paper and have the recipie on a single page if possible?

Whollyraw

Yuuuum! I sub’d sugar for maple syrup and a little bit of salt in the ch0c banana/. So awesome. Thx for the recipe!

Fredbogd

Unless you buy unsweetened almond milk, make no mistake–these recipes are not sugar free.

For those who don’t like, or can’t tolerate, soy-based frozen desserts, try the new coconut milk–based ones. They’re tastier.

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Fredbogd — I used unsweetened almond milk. And yes, soy and coconut-based desserts can also be quite yummy. I just really like almond milk. Thanks for writing.

Jcalex

DDid you used sweetened almond.milk?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Jcalex – no I used unsweetened almond milk, but you could just as easily use the sweetened variety (it would just taste, well, sweeter)

Cmars2002

I just made the almond ice cream recipe tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!! Thank you so much! Also I use almond extract because I didn’t have almond liquer and it worked great. I toasted my almonds before adding them at 350 degrees for 10 min.

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Cmars – so glad you liked it!

Jamie

oh yum! these are yummy!

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Jamie – I’m so glad you like the recipes! Thanks for writing

Gary

Your numbers are high cause of the meat and dairy.Go without for three weeks and eat vegan and they will drop like a rock!

Koriemo

How much ice cream does each batch make?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Koriemo – a little more than a pint.

sarah blackmen

i was wondering if you could make ice cream without an ice cream maker. i guess i found a new recipe

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Sarah – I think you can but I’ve never tried it. Sorry.

Tay

Copy and paste into a word document? It really isn’t that difficult to do. Plus you can shrink the image sizes or get rid of them all together and not waste as much ink.

wtfrunway

So I just made the Triple Almond ice cream (sans blanched almonds)…. and woah man it is good! I ended up adding some drops of stevia to sweeten it up a little. I doubled everything (except almond butter which i left at 3 tbs.)
…. my mom and I ate the whole thing in one sitting
… all 8 servings……<3

wtfrunway

Soo i just made a double recipe of the Triple Almond Ice Cream (sans blanched almonds and only 3 tbs of almond butter) and wow. it is good.

…so good that my mom and i just ate the whole thing….
…all 8 servings….<3

Yep it's a good day.

(I would recommend adding a few drops of stevia to make it a little sweeter)

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi wtfrunway – I’m so glad you and your mom liked the ice cream! I like eating it with my mom too

Sally STewart

Would love to know how to make this with a VitaMix instead of a stove!

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Sally – I’ve never used a vitamix, but the reason to cook the strawberries and sugar is so the sugar melts. If you can do that in a vitamix than you can probably just skip the stove. Let me know how it turns out!

Amanda-Beth

Sounds good but I don’t have ice cream
Maker

DLincoln

I don’t have a non-ice cream maker recipe. Sorry.

Adam

Actually, you could mix the base put it in the refrigerator. and pour maybe a cup into a small ziplock bag, then in a larger bag put ice with 5 or 6 spoons of salt along with your smaller bag of “ice cream mix” and then just keep mixing it up and playing with the bag and in less then 10 mins you should have somthing that resembles icecream texture

wildflower bug

can you replace the sugar in the recipe with stevia powder?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

I’ve never used stevia powder so am not sure, but let me know how it turns out if you try it.

DLincoln

I’ve never used Stevia powder but if you try it please let me know how it turns out. Thanks!

wildflower bug

What is the calories per 1/2 Cup ?

http://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com/ Denise Santoro Lincoln

Hi Wildflower Bug — The calorie count will depend on the type of almond milk you use. Looks like there are about 20 calories in a half cup of unsweetened, which is what I used.

DLincoln

Hi Wildflower – not sure which recipe you’re referring to but just look at the back of your almond milk container for the calorie count and then add in whichever ingredients you’re using. One great thing about almond milk ice cream is that regardless of calories, the saturated fat is very low.

foxylace01

This recipe is good. I’m not a vegan but have lactose intolerance so now I can have ice cream too

DLincoln

Glad you like the recipe!

http://www.facebook.com/heather.chism.5 Heather Chism

Wow we made the Rich Chocolate and Bananna last night and it was a major hit at our house. Thanks for sharing these!

What brand and model Ice cream maker do you have? I have never made ice cream and never had a maker so I have no idea what to buy.

DLincoln

Hi Jaimie – I have a Cuisinart, which I like very much. It was a gift, however, so I have never really explored the market. I hope this helps

Termk99

I can’t have bananas. Can they be left out?

Termk99

I can’t have bananas. Can they be left out?

DLincoln

The bananas add texture and body so I think you would need to substitute something else that is equivalent, although I’m not sure what. Let me know if you come up with a solution and thanks for writing.

Tadeja

What about avocado? It could work, the texture is just right.

Andrew Clouse

For the chocolate, is it supposed to be unsweetened baking cocoa or something else entirely? Forgive my ignorance.

DLincoln

Great question, Andrew. I use just regular unsweetened cocoa. I’ve made it with high end stuff like Scharffenberger, which was great, but the Trader Joe’s unsweetened cocoa powder also worked well. Good luck!

Tadeja

Instead cocoa powder you can use carob powder. 😉

http://www.facebook.com/scott.maxfield.104 Scott Maxfield

Thank You! My Three year old son has Eosinophlic Esophagitis a rare and chronic auto immune disorder. He can’t have Milk,Soy,or Coconut among a very long list of other foods. This recipe is awesome. We just picked two gallons of strawberries and made some ice cream…..THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

DLincoln

Hi Scott. I’m so glad you and your son like the recipe. Thanks so much for your nice note. You’ve made my day!

Jackie Auger

We’re currently trying to figure out my newborns allergies, which is already composed of eggs, bovine protein and soy. and since i’m breastfeeding i can’t eat any of those. Tthis recipe made my heart skip at seeing it. It was delicious and my husband was sad i didn’t make more:D
Thanks a bunch!

Kathleen Roberts

I have tried them all now and they were all very good. I bought my cuisinart small freezer several years ago and just love it. It gives me the opportunity to put in what I want and it wasn’t very expensive. Thanks again!

Karen I.

Hi Denise, I’m excited to find your recipes! Can’t wait to try them out. Just wanted to
clarify…..for the chocolate ice cream, do you use the unsweetened baking chocolate cocoa? Or is the kind with sugar, where you can mix it into a drink? Just want to make sure!

Guest

Hi Denise…Looking forward to trying out all 3! Just to clarify…did you use the unsweetened powdered baking cocoa? Or was it the kind with sugar that you can mix into a drink. I just want to make sure I’m using the right thing because I know that the cocoa is bitter, and it doesn’t look like there’s much sugar to offset the bitterness. Thanks for clarifying!